Local Natives announce world tour, do it all for the indie rock

America has spoken and Local Natives are your indie rock band. Many bands vied to be the indie rock band for America, but, as with so many things, there can be only one. Your one, your only indie rock band is Local Natives now. Some are enthralled, others are furious, none can change what is now pure fact. Los Angeles’ Local Natives are the indie rock band that shall represent America and they are going on tour in the land that has chosen them.

Like all that have been given power, Local Natives only want more. They plan to venture far from America, namely by venturing into seemingly every other single place where they could possibly play. Gaze upon their touring itinerary for the rest of the year, notice how it seems to go on forever. If I used this space to write an entire short story, the sort which would take a full dozen pages on a bound book, it might still be shorter in length than the Local Natives tour dates. They are your indie rock band and now they are everywhere.

America has spoken and Local Natives are your indie rock band. Many bands vied to be the indie rock band for America, but, as with so many things, there can be only one. Your one, your only indie rock band is Local Natives now. Some are enthralled, others are furious, none can change what is now pure fact. Los Angeles’ Local Natives are the indie rock band that shall represent America and they are going on tour in the land that has chosen them.

Like all that have been given power, Local Natives only want more. They plan to venture far from America, namely by venturing into seemingly every other single place where they could possibly play. Gaze upon their touring itinerary for the rest of the year, notice how it seems to go on forever. If I used this space to write an entire short story, the sort which would take a full dozen pages on a bound book, it might still be shorter in length than the Local Natives tour dates. They are your indie rock band and now they are everywhere.

Thanks to donations submitted through the associated Indiegogo campaign, Seattle’s newfound exploration of cochleas continues this year with the official announcement and lineup-unveiling of Substrata 1.3, to be hosted once again at the intimate Chapel Performance Space in the city’s Wallingford neighborhood. Perhaps serving as a testament to the enthusiasm of the event’s supporters, not only did said Indiegogo campaign succeed, but this third edition has seen a third day of performances added, just in case two days of sonic envelopment weren’t enough to leave you venturing home in a sensorial haze.

Last year’s edition had some unsurprisingly stellar performances from the likes of Tim Hecker, Loscil, and the elusive Pan•American. This year’s edition is set to maintain the stellar-ness, though again, extended across an additional evening.

The lineup includes a mix of the local and the not, as Pacific Northwesterners Grouper, Sean Curley, Ethernet, and The Sight Below (a.k.a. Substrata curator Rafael Anton Irisarri) join Christina Vantzou, Yagya, and Jacaszek to comprise part of the international bill. The guitar-wielding drone artists Noveller and Ken Camden, as well as the versatile Kim Cascone, round out what’s sure to be, as it has been previously, a thoroughly immersive few days, and a worthwhile replacement for “ommmm” activities.

And like previous editions, Substrata 1.3 will feature free daytime events on Saturday (details TBA) and a separately-ticketed auditory field trip on Sunday, for those wishing to mold their ears (and their minds) even further. Tickets for the performances are $35 per day or $65 for a three-day pass, and the event will take place July 18-July 21.

Can’t make it this year? The Substrata-inspired isolatedmix from Irisarri himself might be the next best thing:

Has the dehumanizing grind of working day in and day out at a job you don’t care about for a paycheck you know you’re just going to convert to double cheeseburgers got you down? Does the prospect of the future fill you with preemptive regret and the strange need to use the toilet? Well, just in time for summer blockbuster season, the American film industry has got your back. You see, NGUZUNGUZU (pronounced: en-gorz-oop-en-gorz-oop) are heading out on the road this June to get some “sick b-roll” for their recently announced coming-of-age dance movie, in which they will try to teach sad young professionals just like you the value of letting loose every once in a while. The plot reportedly revolves around a legless accountant’s chance encounter with a sexy wizard. The sexy wizard, played by Channing Tatum in drag, not only grows the legless accountant a whole new set of legs in her mystical Mason jars, but she also teaches him how to dance the mambo, and eventually becomes his wife!

Hippos in Tanks (pronounced: hurrpoz-en-trornks) are bankrolling the film project, which has been described as the “most aesthetically adventurous coming-of-age dance film since 2006’s Step Up.” The short tour will hit most of the major North American dance hotspots, including Twain, California and Vancouver (pronounced: vun-crubbard). Lace up your dancing shoes, downcast American workforce, Asma Maroof and Daniel Pineda are coming to your town to inject a little Tatummy skip into your step!

Doing a verbal nod of the head to Robin Williams’ tremendous success as an actor and comedian, I feel it’s also important to acknowledge the qualities that might not have earned him fame but are an inextricable part of his story nonetheless. First, those hairy arms. Dedicated bodybuilders have nothing on Williams’ perpetual ability to lift those follicle-weighted limbs day-in and day-out. Second, “carpe diem.” Sure, some Roman, poetry-writing fairy might’ve coined the phrase over 2,000 years ago, but hardly anybody alive cares about that guy; people just recall Dead Poets Society (1989). Anyway, in case you haven’t seen it, the phrase translates to “seize the day” in English.

Elaborate segue: if you didn’t “seize the day” and catch the sometimes equally furry bass monster Thundercat on his most recent tour (with Flying Lotus and Teebs), then you’re almost certainly out of luck, now or in the future, when it comes to seeing him play in person. See, the Apocalypse is coming. Specifically, Apocalypse, the sophomore album from the aforementioned rumbling — due to the bass — feline will be released digitally on June 4 via iTunes, with a physical release coming July 9. There’s no need for dire warnings about fiery meteorites raining down from the sky. Seclusion will be your choice, not because of some naive desire to prevent almost certain death, but because you won’t want anyone else seeing you getting your grove on in the most embarrassing, though personally enjoyable way possible.

All the artists on the Hyperdub roster are pretty damn sweet. It’s like, Hyperdub is the local bakery where there are 30 different kinds of donuts and when you walk in an old lady is like, “Have a sample, dearie,” but the sample isn’t really a sample — it’s like, practically the size of a full donut. And then at the Hyperdub Simile Bakery they throw an extra cookie into the bag at the end, just as a thank you. And you’re looking at all these records/donuts and they all look amazing and there’s like five different donuts with sprinkles on ‘em and like, one with bacon on top, and then there’s like HOLY SHIT IT’S THAT GLAZED DONUT WITH ACTUAL PEACHES FROM THE FARMER’S MARKET SHOVED INTO IT AND mmmmmmm so good mmmmm food coma SUGAR. And if Hyperdub is this enchanted bakery, then 22-year-old Mancunian producer Sam Walton is that juicy peach donut. (Or the bacon one, if you’re into that sorta thing.)

Walton has been with Hyperdub since 2011, when he started sending the label demo tracks and eventually signed on for the appropriately-titled Walton EP, the first of three EPs he released that year. Now he’s back with the full-length Beyond, a sassy melange of grit, grime, funk, atmospheric stuff, and… other stuff. The album, which is Hyperdub’s first full-length for 2013, drops July 1. Preceding the release is Walton’s Baby 12-inch, which just made its way into the world (and our hearts, ahhhhhh) on May 27, also via the good people at Hyperdub. Check the title track for that here: